PRINTED FROM HAWAII SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.hawaii.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Hawaii University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in HSO for personal use (for details see www.universitypressscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy).date: 19 December 2018

International Legal Perspectives on North Korean Refugee Issues

Shin-Wha Lee

Publisher:

University of Hawai'i Press

DOI:10.21313/hawaii/9780824837396.003.0008

This chapter discusses how the North Korean defector problem began to come under the international spotlight as the result of several deliberate defection attempts that were often, since the first years of the twenty-first century, facilitated by international nongovernment organizations (NGOs). With the passage of the North Korean Human Rights Act, signed by US President George W. Bush in 2004, the adoption of North Korean human rights-related resolutions by the United Nations every year since 2005, and various accusations by NGOs over human rights violations in North Korea, the country’s human rights record has drawn significant international attention. Conversely, there have been certain observations suggesting that North Korean human rights issues, including the defector problem, might instigate a regime change in North Korea. Thus, arguments have arisen over whether or not human rights issues in the North should be related to political and security agendas.

Hawaii Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.

PRINTED FROM HAWAII SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.hawaii.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Hawaii University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in HSO for personal use (for details see www.universitypressscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy).date: 19 December 2018